Primrose considers new Dr. Phillips location

DR. PHILLIPS — Representatives of Primrose Schools held an informal meeting with Dr. Phillips residents May 6 at the Crown of Glory Lutheran Church, regarding a nearby site for which they are considering an application to build a school.

Officials are interested in building a 12,000-square-foot, one-story Primrose School at 8236 Conroy Windermere Road in Dr. Phillips. A pond is on the west side of that lot, with a larger pond across the street to the north and Cleveland Avenue properties to the east and south.

The existing abandoned home on that property requires demolition because of issues with decay, and Primrose officials would seek construction of a prototype building with a maximum height of 23-and-one-half feet.

The owner of the property, Sima Patel, is seeking a special exception in that residential-zoned plot for a preschool that would serve children like hers better than present options in the area.

“I cried looking for infant care for my children, because I couldn’t find anything that I felt like I could trust somebody,” Patel said. “I ended up doing a private nanny for both of my children. It was unacceptable: The schools were not clean; they were not maintained; my kids would have runny noses, and people wouldn’t even take the time to wipe their runny nose; they send them home dirty. I thought it was unacceptable that an area like Dr. Phillips and Windermere doesn’t have quality child care.”

Patel wants a school that will both teach and care for children, from infants to kindergarten. Primrose provides the ultimate care and instruction in that regard, she said.

The cap at this proposed school would be around 200 children, with staggered drop-off and pick-up times between 6:30 a.m. and 6:30 p.m.

Sabrina Boesch, the owner of a Primrose School in Lake Mary, said particularly busy times included 8:30 to 9:30 a.m. and 3:30 to 5:30 p.m., with cars coming and going. She recommended examining the Primrose School in Ocoee for an indication of what to expect, among 10 Primrose Schools in the Orlando area, 22 in Florida and 302 nationwide. She said residents in the neighborhood near that school had been reluctant but ultimately came around and saw increases in property values.

One resident disagreed with that assessment, saying a preschool would be listed as an “incurable defect” that would result in a lasting, unchanging drop in home prices. Some said they welcomed Primrose School in the area but just not at that location.

Other residents raised concerns with noise, crime in that area, traffic and parking and lighting on the 44-car parking lot, which will abut Cleveland Avenue.

The lighting ordinance in Orange County is stringent, with rules for lights to point downward and not spill outward at all, said Bob Ziegenfuss, an engineer working on the project. With staggered staff times in addition to drop-off and pick-up times, the lot generally operates at 80% to 90% capacity and would be a drop in the bucket of traffic in that area, said Rebecca Wilson, land-use attorney for the project.

Wilson offered to meet with attendees to determine what could be done regarding buffers, repelling crime, a turn lane and other concerns.

The development team would like to address concerns before applying for a special exception but wants to apply as soon as it seems feasible, Wilson said.

“Our next step is that we need to get together as a group, compare notes and see what changes we can make,” Wilson said. “(Because) traffic seems to be a big concern, I think next we need to get a traffic consultant on board and go to the county to talk to them about the traffic situation out front. Then we will get with you all with property value information and then talk about whether it makes sense to come back out or make our submittal and then come out right after that.”

For more information, visit PrimroseSchools.com.

Contact Zak Kerr at [email protected].